"It's been a long journey, but one that reinforces a very basic principle that we hold dear ... everybody counts."

Eric Samuel, medical director for Families First, said Friday that when he awoke, he knew "things would change for my patients."

He recalled a patient he treated earlier in the week who wanted to wait until his coverage kicked in Friday before getting a test for a possible blood clot.

"I told him I'd rather you live with debt than die without it," Samuel said.

Nick Toumpas, the commissioner of the state Department of Health and Human Services, elicited a large laugh from the room when he quoted former Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia and said, "What a long strange trip it's been."

Toumpas acknowledged the sign-up process for the new health insurance program may hit some "bumps in the road," but they are committed to making it work and responding to any concerns.

He described the initiative as an "extraordinary important program to thousands of our neighbors, friends and family members," who don't have coverage.

Like Samuel, he said the program eliminates the fear that many New Hampshire residents have felt over the years of being uninsured.

"It takes off the table some of the unconscionable choices we've forced people into making," Toumpas said. "To say am I going to put food on the table, am I going to put gas in the car, am I going to make a rental payment, because I can't afford to get health care."

Hassan said the program will help cut down on cost shifting by either health care clinics or hospitals who treat uninsured people and then pass on the cost to others.

In response to a question, the governor said she is hopeful the program will eventually cut down on the numbers of people who use emergency rooms for medical treatment.

"We are hopeful in the long term that will certainly happen, in the shorter term as people might have had untreated conditions, they may go the emergency rooms for now," Hassan said. "But we're working really hard to get everybody with a primary care doctor or a community health center and, over time, we should definitely see a decline in emergency room waits."

Helen Taft, executive director of Families First, said the program will give insurance to many of their clients who don't have any now.

"I can assure you this is a huge support for this agency because we've been struggling with 55 percent uninsured patients," Taft said. "This is going to impact our ability to continue to grow and to meet the needs of this community."

Taft also revealed Families First will soon be unveiling its new van, which they will use as they travel to homeless shelters and seek to enroll the homeless into the program.

"We really bring the services to where the homeless are," Taft said.

To sign up for the program or find out if you're eligible, go online to either www.nheasy.nh.gov or www.healthcare.gov or call (888) 901-4999.

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